How We Work With Women

Hello! My name is Mariana, and I am the Maternal Assistance Director at Houston Coalition for Life. Part of my role is to schedule all the classes for our Curriculum of Life Program, and I give diapers to the women for every class they attend. I also offer them a package of essentials when they are close to having their baby which consists of a stroller, car seat, pack 'n play, clothes, diapers, and wipes. I also counsel them if they need to talk to someone, and that's what I really want to share with you today.

Women initially come to our Blue Blossom Pregnancy Centers because they want to find out if they are pregnant. Once that is confirmed, we invite them to come to our classes, and this is when I meet them. In almost every case, they have something serious going on in their lives. They are usually struggling with some kind of trauma, abandonment, abuse, or they have just arrived in Houston and have been through a lot.

So I want to share with you what it's like to talk to these amazing ladies. As I said before, they are always struggling with something. When I talk to them, I always arrive at the same conclusion: they are all broken because at some point in their lives someone has taken advantage of them either as a child, teenager, or adult. Being that broken makes it very hard for them to identify when they have entered an abusive situation. So unfortunately they keep walking into these types of relationships. It is sad to realize this because at the end of the day, all they are looking for is to love and to be loved. They are the bravest women that I have ever seen, and each one leaves me speechless when I am able to see their strength and their willingness to recover and to keep walking. It is very hard to break with a behavior they have known all their lives. From generation to generation, their moms, grandmothers, sisters, aunts… they all have been through similar situations, so they believe it is a normal thing to happen to them. It is very difficult for them to see the value that they have just for the fact of being a woman – not to mention for being a pregnant woman!

When they choose life for their babies – even though they know that baby is coming into a very hard situation, even though they don't have the means to support that child since almost all of them have other babies and are abandoned by the father of the baby – they feel this huge weight on their shoulders, and they need support and understanding. That's what they find here, and then you see their real strength and know that they will make it.

My goal when seeing these ladies and listening to all their stories is to give them a safe space where they can empty their hearts and realize that someone cares about them. In fact, there is a whole team here at Houston Coalition for Life that cares about them and wants to walk with them so that this baby has everything he or she needs. I don't solve their problems or make them go away, but I give them the tools they need to make things better and make better choices in their lives from this point forward. Even though it is not easy, I am always amazed by how much an hour of counseling alleviates their burden, and they are able to see clearly and make good decisions. Step by step.

It is not easy to see the suffering of a woman who is carrying a lot of weight on her shoulders, and who has been betrayed by the person she loved and was supposed to protect her and her preborn baby. It is not easy to see a 14-year-old child pregnant and confused because she thinks that this baby is the solution to all her problems and to the lack of love in her life. Each story has its own suffering and although all of them are about the absence of love and stability in their lives, each brings its own challenges and each one teaches me the incredible value of a woman and how resilient they are even in the midst of the worst adversity possible.

I am not able to talk about specific stories due to respecting their confidentiality, but believe me when I tell you they are suffering. They are going through the unimaginable, they need our help and our support, and they do find here at Houston Coalition for Life a helping hand and a kind ear to listen and to give advice. Most of the time, that's all they need to get back on their feet and keep fighting and living.

I ask you to keep them all in your prayers and to keep supporting us in any way you can so we can keep doing our job and helping these women!
Thank you for listening!

Mariana